Next To You

The Flannerys

The first day of the bazaar was getting ready to start and everything was going well. Once they had opened the doors, they only started with a small group of people attending, but the number grew throughout the day. Heather had a headset on and kept in constant communication with every person who was helping out. Once the performances started, even more people showed up.

When it drew nearer to Melody's time slot on the stage, no one could find her anywhere. Mya came running in, looking frantic, "I just talked to Melody's mom on the phone, she caught strep throat, she's at home, we need someone to fill in her time slot, what do we do? We can't send in the next act, it'll throw off the whole schedule!"

"Mya, breathe, there's no need to panic. I guess I'll go on in her place," Heather pulled off her headset and handed it, along with her clipboard, to Mya, "just make sure everything else stays on schedule."

Eoin came to the bazaar and brought his whole family, so they could see what Heather and Mya's hard work did. He separated from them and found Mya, looking overwhelmed.

"Is everything okay? Where's Heather?" he asked in concern.

"Our friend Melody got sick and Heather is about to go on stage in her place, I'm freaking out. Heather has so many notes here, I don't know what to do," she looked like she wanted to cry.

Eoin grabbed the headset and put it on. He had seen Heather going through things with everyone the day before and felt like he could handle it, "don't worry, I'm here to help."

He grabbed Heather's clipboard and started talking to the stage tech crew on the microphone. Mya took some deep breaths and went back to checking in with the others. Eoin had to go help with the switchboard and watched Heather walk out onto stage from where they were set up. She sat at the piano at the far end of the stage and started playing. Luckily, Melody had left the sheet music there, then Heather started singing into the microphone.

Eoin had to run to the aid of one the guys controlling a spotlight. As he shone it on her, he listened to her voice. He felt like he was in a trance, he rested his head on his arm as he held the light in place. She sang a few peace-inspiring songs, then finished and took a bow as people cheered and applauded her performance.

When she met up with Mya, she looked puzzled, "where's my headset and clipboard?"

"Oh, Eoin has them. Look, there he is now," Mya hurried off again as he came walking toward her.

"I fully understand now your role in all this, you have a very stressful job, Ms. Librarian," he smiled affectionately as he handed the headset and clipboard back to her. "I don't think anyone can do what you do, I'm not even sure how you do it."

Heather gave him a relieved smile, "you've helped out a lot Flannery, we really appreciate it. What was going on with the lights and soundboard?"

"Nothing too major, I just had to help them out a little, then more of your club members came and started helping. I've never seen such a committed group of hardworking people, but I'll credit that to your leadership," he empathized. "Whenever you get a moment, maybe you could come say hi to my family?"

Heather's stomach fluttered anxiously, "family? All of them?"

"Well yeah, is that okay? I was just going to bring Tara and Ryan, but then my parents wanted to come, and then my grandparents wanted to come... You look worried."

Heather calmed herself, "no, I'm fine. If I get a moment, I will come say hello."

She put her headset back on and resumed running around to help people. She hoped she looked okay, even though she was all over the place. When things had slowed down a bit, she finally allowed herself to take a break. She put away her headset and clipboard, then decided to walk around the floor to see the booths. She found Eoin sitting at a table with his family, they were enjoying some of the holiday treats and drinks. She quickly straightened her dress and hair before she approached the table.

"Hello Tara, hello Ryan, Eoin told me he brought you here, are you enjoying yourselves?" she greeted them warmly.

They nodded as they continued eating their food. Eoin stood up and introduced her to his parents and grandparents, "this is my friend, Heather Shannon, she basically put this whole thing together. You would not believe how hard this girl works, she's incredible. Heather, this is David and Andi Flannery, my parents, and these youthful people over here are my grandparents."

Heather blushed and shook hands with all of them, "It's nice to meet you all. Eoin is making it sound like I did everything myself, but I had a lot of help, including from Eoin and his friends."

Gerald Flannery, Eoin's grandfather smiled warmly, "we saw you singing on stage, we were very impressed."

Maggie Flannery patted his arm lovingly then smiled up sweetly at her, "our dear Eoin has been telling us about a special young lady, we're very pleased to finally meet you dear. You should sit with us for a while, let us get to know you better."

"As much as I'd love to, I have to get back to work. I hope to see you all again soon though, thank you all for coming, and I hope you continue to enjoy yourselves," Heather hugged Tara and Ryan, then went back to her job.

As it got later, they were starting to close things down. Heather was helping put some things away, when Eoin came walking up to her again.

"Do you need help?" he asked.

Heather shook her head, "no, we pretty much got this, what about your family?"

"Oh, they went home a while ago. I told them I was going to stick around a bit longer, so that's why I'm asking if you need help with anything," he was secretly just looking for an excuse to be with her.

They finished shutting things down, making it easy to open again the next day. Mya sighed as they walked out of the school together, "one more day of this, then we're free. I can't wait to start break."

Heather took relief in the thought, "I don't remember the last time I was this tired, I could probably sleep for days."

Mya giggled, "yeah, right. I know you too well, you always have to be doing something productive or you get restless. So how was it, meeting Eoin's whole family?"

"Nerve-wracking, but I think it went okay. I know they wanted me to sit and talk with them some more, but I already took too long of a break. It was a good thing I went back when I did, they were having problems with the lights and sound board again. Why do things keep happening?"

Eoin was waiting by his truck. Mya smiled knowingly, "I'll see you tomorrow Heather, it looks like somebody missed you today."

Mya was already walking away before she could respond. She shifted her bag and walked over to him, "do you need something Flannery?"

"I guess you could say that, would you like a ride home?"

She felt butterflies again, then a cold wind blew through and made her shiver, "I guess so."

When they got into the truck, he leaned over and kissed her, "I'm sorry, I couldn't resist."

Heather was startled by it, once she calmed her nerves, she looked him in the eyes, "Eoin, we can't keep doing stuff like this. We're not dating, you can't just kiss me whenever you feel like it, we need to set some boundaries here."

"Okay, you're right, I'm sorry. I guess I was a little too happy to have you to myself for the first time in ages today," Eoin put on his seatbelt and started the truck. As they were driving, he glanced over at her, "my family would really like to get to know you, Heather. Could you have dinner with us some time soon?"

"Yeah, just let me know when," she directed him to her grandparents' mansion and had him drop her off across the street from the gates.

He couldn't see much of anything through all the darkness and the trees, but followed her instructions. She thanked him for the ride and ran through the gates without looking back at him. He felt lonely and frustrated as he watched her go, but he understood what she meant by it.

They made it through another day of the bazaar without too many setbacks. She was proud to see the little girls dance on stage, and everyone loved them. Eoin didn't come that day. Heather looked for him after everyone was leaving, but he was nowhere to be seen. Once break officially started, Heather had done all the things she needed to do, she found herself aimlessly roaming the house. Mya was going to be out of town for the next few days, so she didn't know what to do with herself. As she browsed the books in the library, she was startled by the ringing of her phone as it echoed.

"Hello?" she answered the phone awkwardly.

"Hey Heather, it's Eoin. Are you busy tonight?"

She was happy to hear his voice, "no, my grandparents are gone until tomorrow, and Mya is on a trip. Why? What's going on?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to come over to my house for dinner tonight, I can come pick you up," he replied.

"Okay, that would be nice actually. I thought I was going to die from boredom here."

She had heard the smile in his voice, "alright, I'll come by around 5:30, is that okay?"

"Yes, that should be fine," once she got off the phone, she checked the time.

It was still a few hours away before he would come get her, so she went up to her room to figure out what to wear. She wished she had asked what they were going to be doing exactly. Every time she had dinner with her grandparents, she had to dress up and endure boring dinner conversation, but she had a feeling that having dinner with Eoin's family would be nothing like that.

She started going through her closet, and before she knew it, she had started reorganizing everything in it. The time flew by, and by the time she noticed it, she only had half of an hour to get ready. She decided on a nice sweater and jeans, then brushed and pulled her hair back into a french twist. There was a loud knock on the door as she ran down the stairs. Connelly answered it before she could get to the door.

He stared down Eoin before he turned to Heather, "you have a visitor, Ms. Heather."

"Thank you Connelly, I'm actually going over to his house for dinner this evening. I know Grandmother gave the kitchen staff the night off tonight," she said timidly.

"Yes, Ms. Heather, I shall take note of it. I'll tell Lydia not to take anything up to your room tonight," Connelly answered dully, as he held out her coat and scarf for her.

"Thanks Connelly, I'll be back later," she quickly threw her things on and followed Eoin out the door.

Once they reached the bottom of the steps, Eoin took in the whole front of the house with his eyes, "this place is massive, you can't even see it from the road though with all these tall trees. How many floors are there?"

"Four. Come on, let's get out of here," she tugged at his arm.

"Okay, okay. Geesh," he laughed.

There were patches of ice in the driveway. Heather stepped gingerly around them, but miscalculated and slipped, falling back into Eoin and taking him down with her.

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry, are you okay?" she gasped.

Eoin just laughed, "yeah, I'm fine. Are you okay?"

She laughed in relief and nodded as she got up, "yes, here, let me help you up."

He grabbed her hands and she pulled him up with ease, until they started slipping again. Eoin suddenly got a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.

"What are you thinking Flannery?"

He grabbed her and picked her up, jumping around the patches of ice, then opened the truck door for her, "there you go, Ms. Librarian, safe and sound."

"I could've walked!" she shouted at him as she watched him run around to the driver's side.

"Shh," he said, "we're on a schedule and it was taking too long to get across the driveway."

Heather hid a smile and tapped her forehead with the palm of her hand, "since when do you care about schedules?"

"It's not my schedule, it's my mom's. She always times everything right so the food doesn't get cold, and so everyone sits down around the same time, she does it every night," he said as he peered in both directions of the road.

Heather found it hard to believe, "does she have a job or anything?"

"She helps my dad with his contracting business. Answers phones, makes orders, stuff like that, but she used to be a middle school English teacher. My dad is a contractor, builds houses for developments. We're actually pretty busy people most of the time, it's a wonder my mom wants to cook meals at all, but she makes family dinner a top priority. She reads a lot of parenting articles, that's where she got the idea in the first place," he smiled proudly.

Heather felt a little envious of Eoin, but she was glad he had a wholesome, family oriented background, she was starting to see why he was the way that he was. It was nice to finally start getting to know him. She was curious about the kind of place he lived in. They pulled up next to a curb in front of a two story house with a two car garage. There was a basketball hoop over the garage door and a picket fence around the front yard. There was nothing unique or spectacular about the house, but it had a warm, welcoming feeling to it. She could see smoke coming from a chimney. There was a bare Christmas tree in view of the front window, and boxes were stacked around the family room, labeled Christmas decorations.

"You've been putting up decorations today?" Heather asked as they made their way up the walk.

"Well, started to. We got the lights up on the roof today, yesterday we helped my grandparents decorate their house. That's part of the reason we're having this dinner, so we can decorate the tree, I thought you might like to help us out," he grinned as he pulled out his house key and unlocked the front door. "Mom! We're here!"

Heather scrunched up her face at the booming of Eoin's voice.

Andi shouted back from the other end of the house, "we're in the kitchen honey!"

He saw Heather's face, chuckled and smiled apologetically, "I guess I should've warned you, when we have family over, we tend to get pretty loud. I hope you don't mind."

Heather gave an understanding smile, "it's nice to know, but I don't think it's too uncommon, Mya's family is the same way."

"So you know what I'm talking about then?" he smiled as he pulled her down the hallway to the kitchen.

"Oh, Heather, we're so glad you could join us tonight. How are you at decorating Christmas cookies? Because that's what we're going to do after dinner, I have been baking all day today," Andi greeted her warmly with a hug.

"That explains why it smells so wonderful in here," she hugged her back.

Maggie hugged her and kissed her cheek, "you seem like you're the perfectionist type, are you?"

Heather turned red, "maybe a little bit, but I prefer the term organized."

"Of course, don't worry dear, I'm the same way," Maggie beamed.

When they sat down for dinner, they blessed the food, then immediately started passing the dishes around. It smelled delicious, and she felt so warm and loved at their family dining table. They all talked to her, asked her questions, surprised at some of the answers she gave them, but Eoin saw they were starting to see the same things that had him falling for her.

After dinner, she helped decorate the cookies. Her and Tara were throwing their creative skills together to make the prettiest and most colorful Christmas cookies that had ever been in the Flannerys' house. He watched her through the kitchen window as he helped his dad finish their twinkle lights display. David had been trying to tell him something.

"Eoin! The lights, plug them in!" he shouted to him.

"Oh, right, sorry!" Eoin shouted back as he plugged the strands together.

David climbed down from his perch on the roof and stood back to admire their work, "what has you so distracted? Your friend in there?"

Eoin nodded, "yeah, she looks like she's having a lot of fun in there."

"So what's going on between you two anyway? Are you just friends or what?" David teased him.

"We are just friends, but I hope to be more soon," Eoin said awkwardly.

"Ah, so you're going to ask permission right? That's what you're waiting on?"

"Yes, I haven't even met them yet, so I'm not sure how it's going to go," he grabbed the plastic 10 gallon containers and started to carry them into the house.

"Well, if you want to talk about it some more, just let me know, I'm not sure why though. I guess if you need advice on how to handle yourself with these folks of hers, feel free to ask," David said as he picked up the rest of the containers and followed him inside.

Heather watched Eoin with his family. She hadn't really gotten a chance to observe him before, but so far, it was one of the sweetest things she had ever seen. They had talked her into playing the piano for them, and Eoin danced with his grandmother. Decorating the tree, he picked up Ryan to help him hang ornaments on the higher branches.

"Where's Tara?" Heather suddenly realized she wasn't around.

"She's probably in her room, could you go get her, Eoin?" Andi said as she hung up their stockings on the mantle.

"It's okay Mrs. Flannery, I can go get her," Heather volunteered.

"Oh, thank you dear. It's up the stairs, the third door on the left," Andi pulled out some garlands from a plastic container and started untangling them.

Heather stood up from the spot on the floor where she had been unwrapping glass ornaments and brushed herself off. She walked up the stairs and found the door Andi described to her. It had a white board with Tara's name written on it, decorated with all sorts of little doodles.

She knocked and heard Tara answer, "hold on a second!" after a moment, she came and opened up the door with flushed cheeks, "oh, it's only you. I was trying to finish up some gifts I had been making for everyone. What's up?"

"Oh, your mom wanted someone to come get you, she probably needs help with decorations, may I come in?" Heather asked politely.

"Sure, sorry it's a bit of a mess," she walked over to her desk and moved some papers to uncover some sketches she had been working on.

Heather looked around and saw boxes and cases of art supplies spread throughout the room. There was an easel standing in one corner with paints and brushes, the walls were covered with artwork and posters.

"I didn't know you were into art. Did you make all of these yourself?" Heather gestured to the paintings and sketches on the wall.

"Yeah, that's what my gifts are for everyone. I made a landscape painting of the farm for my grandparents and already have it wrapped up for them. I'm just finishing up the ones for my parents and Eoin. I have Ryan's drying over here," Tara opened up to her.

"These are all amazing, you have a wonderful talent Tara, I envy you," Heather smiled warmly.

"Why? You're good at so many things, Eoin told us about all the stuff you do," Tara answered timidly.

"Well, you know as well as I that one cannot instantly be great at something, you have to really work at it and practice whenever you can, but I absolutely can't make anything like this," Heather picked up a sketch and examined it, then set it back down.

It seemed to cheer up Tara, and at the same time reminded her of something, "we probably won't see you for Christmas, so here, I want you to have this." She thumbed through a folder of sketches, then handed Heather a sketch of Eoin, "he didn't know I was watching him when I drew this."

She looked over it carefully, it was Eoin sitting in an armchair, staring out a window with a thoughtful expression on his face, "thank you Tara, this is really good, I'll cherish it."

"If I did the math correctly, it was the day he met you for the first time. I don't know what it is, but there's been something different about him, I just can't think of how to describe it," Tara started putting her art supplies away when there was another knock at the door.

Tara quickly covered up the things she had been working on and peeked through the door as she opened it, it was Eoin.

"Hey Tara, before you come downstairs, mom wants you to go to the attic and make sure we got all the decorations out."

"Why can't you do it?" she sassed.

"Because, I'm already doing something else she asked me to do, please," he calmly asked her.

Tara huffed, "fine."

Heather smirked as she came out behind her, "I'm curious what it would take to make you lose your patience."

"With Tara's attitude, it happens more often than you might think," he scoffed.

"It's true! He's just trying to look good in front of you!" Tara yelled from the attic stairs.

Eoin laughed sarcastically and shouted back, "nobody asked you Tara!"

Heather stepped around him and laughed, "you're too precious, really, it's nice to see siblings who love each other enough to give each other a hard time."

He wasn't sure if she was joking or not, "what? Really? You think I'm precious?"

Heather laughed again, "that's not what I said, Flannery."

"Sure you did, you're exact words were 'you're too precious,' sounds like it was directed at me," he teased and leaned in close to her.

"I was talking about your relationship with your little sister," Heather had stopped halfway down and folded her arms with an amused smile on her face.

David and Gerald saw them with each other as they were coming down the stairs and exchanged looks with each other, "just friends, he says."

They both turned red and separated, taking up tasks on the opposite sides of the room from each other. They finished decorating, then had hot cocoa and cookies as they enjoyed the peaceful glow of the Christmas lights, and the soothing crackle of the fireplace. Then Eoin took Heather home.

"Thanks for inviting me to spend time with your family, Eoin, I had a lot of fun," she said, as Eoin came to a stop in front of her house.

"Now I just need to meet your family. My family already adores you, do you think I've got a good chance of impressing yours at least?" he said solemnly.

Heather just smiled, then stared down at her feet, "well, since you invited me to your family get together, do you think you'd be able to make it over here for Christmas eve? You can bring your family with you. I'll just let my grandmother know we'll have a few extra guests."

"Okay, I'll ask them if they want to come then, and I'll call you later, if that's alright?" he asked her, once she looked at him again.

"Yeah, I'll talk to you later," she was about to open the door, but Eoin stopped her and got out to open it for her.

"Let me know if you need help crossing the driveway again," he laughed as he helped her out of the truck.

"I didn't need your help the last time," Heather smirked. "Goodnight Eoin."

"Goodnight, Ms. Librarian" he answered softly.

She smiled, then stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. She took off before he could grab her and kiss her back. He knew she had done it on purpose and chuckled as she almost slipped on the pavement. He was about to come and help her, but she waved him away letting him know she was okay. After carefully walking up the stairs, she realized she had left her bag in his truck.

He spotted it, and with a smug expression, walked up the stairs to give it to her, "that's not fair, Ms. Librarian, we're supposed to keep boundaries, your words, not mine."

"What are you going to do about it then?"

He caressed her cheek with the back of his hand, then kissed it, "now we're even."

He winked at her then returned to his truck. Connelly opened the door as she was watching Eoin drive away. She jumped with a start as she turned to face him. Once she saw his facial expression, she knew he was going to tell her grandparents.